Author
Topic: Cheapskate stories (Read 236557 times)

I always kind of wondered what the point and purpose was to that. So okay you have a huge great home to brag about but what are you going to do if people want to come see it? Sit them on shabby furniture? Feed them the cheap food you get for themselves?

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I guess so. I mean if someone has a huge house and have the finances to properly fund not only the house but the utilities, decent furniture, and to feed themselves, fine, why not?

But as I said, I don't get buying a huge expensive house in a premium location just to sit on a hard wooden floor and stare at each other because they couldn't afford anything but bunny ears on their tv.

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I lived in Monterey, CA for a while in the mid 80s and worked in a county office. One of the men who worked there owned a home on 17 Mile Drive (very, very expensive real estate, at least back then there were several celebrities including Clint Eastwood who lived there). Thinking back now, I can't remember the sacrifices this man and his wife made to be ablel to live there; I do remember him cutting coupons out of the office copy of the newspaper, and buying lunch at the grill at KMart on double hot dog days. They basically poured every cent of their income into their house, which is certainly their choice, but it always seemed to me to be detrimental to their overall quality of life - sure, the house was great, but the furniture (I heard) was pretty sparse, they had one 15 year old car on its last legs, and of course there was no room at all for fun items in the budget. Kind of a grim life, to me, but each to his own.

The view! He must have bought it for the view and probably the re-sale value. I know that area.

That kind of reminds me of when my husband and I sold our starter home and bought a much bigger house in a nicer neighborhood for ourselves and our two daughters, who were toddlers at the time. I often say that if I could go back in time, I wouldn't have done it. The new house had a lot more room for all of us, true, and we loved it (still do) - but it ate up every last cent we had for a long time and put us into severe debt. It's now paid off (thanks in large part to some help from my parents), but I would never do that again.

To add insult to injury, when we sold our starter home, we got less than we'd originally paid for it. When the buyer sold it himself a few years later, he got double what we'd got. Sigh!

That kind of reminds me of when my husband and I sold our starter home and bought a much bigger house in a nicer neighborhood for ourselves and our two daughters, who were toddlers at the time. I often say that if I could go back in time, I wouldn't have done it. The new house had a lot more room for all of us, true, and we loved it (still do) - but it ate up every last cent we had for a long time and put us into severe debt. It's now paid off (thanks in large part to some help from my parents), but I would never do that again.

To add insult to injury, when we sold our starter home, we got less than we'd originally paid for it. When the buyer sold it himself a few years later, he got double what we'd got. Sigh!

That's one thing I'm afraid of about moving from where we are. True, it is a bit small for the 5 of us and will be even more when the two older ones are teens but then once they go off to college or whatever, it'll be less crowded and it'll just be DH, myself and our youngest.

That and many of the homes around here that we like are not gas heat like this one is, but rather require oil which can be pricey, and the bigger the house the more oil to heat. Though on the other hand, the big Victorians around here tend to go for around $200-$300 thousand. Which isn't too bad when I think that where I used to live they'd be closer to about 600,000

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I used to buy a $15-20 purse at one of the discount stores 3-4 times a year. I then realized these purses weren't made well and I was tired of repairing or discarding them. I now buy one or two well made purses a year for $30-40 and they last. I just change them out if I get bored. Same with shoes, if they aren't made well then they aren't worth a dollar, if you have to keep replacing them.

My current purse is a beautiful, heavy and soft leather item that cost me $120. My most expensive bag ever... It's now 3 years old, and that's young for me and my leather bags. Most of them get used for 10+ years. I had a nice pair of good leather flats that were $105 new. I wore them for 12 years. I resoled them 5 times, and re heeled them another 3 or so on top of that. I probably spent another $100 over the years, spiffing them up. But, $200 over 10 years, with no problems caused by ill fitting shoes, breaks down to $20 a year - and I have NEVER had a $20 pair of shoes that fit me or would last more than a few months. There are quite a few things that are expensive up front, but will pay for themselves many times over in length of use time.

Doc Marten's boots. I used to LIVE in those things, and never managed to wear a pair out. At worst, a pair might be downgraded to use for painting & such where I don't want to wear shoes that I care about getting paint-splattered.

Careful with the new styles of Doc boots. My friend bought some black and white ones and the white flaked off almost instantly. Apparently the white had been painted on and not dyed and could not handle the natural creasing from walking. I bought a high heeled b & w womens version of the same thing and thankfully i got to treat them before any paint flecked off but they will need to be redone within a year or so. I also have a pair of bloodred traditional Doc which have no colour problems 5 years down the track. There is a problem with their white stuff though and it's not only Doc shoes with this problem. Still very hardy and comfortable boots but I have also noticed their soles are made of much softer rubber now then the ones from 10-15 years ago. I have more wear on my occasional wearing on my 2 year old red boots than my 20+ 4th hand black boots which have hardly any wear on the soles at all.

I used to buy a $15-20 purse at one of the discount stores 3-4 times a year. I then realized these purses weren't made well and I was tired of repairing or discarding them. I now buy one or two well made purses a year for $30-40 and they last. I just change them out if I get bored. Same with shoes, if they aren't made well then they aren't worth a dollar, if you have to keep replacing them.

My current purse is a beautiful, heavy and soft leather item that cost me $120. My most expensive bag ever... It's now 3 years old, and that's young for me and my leather bags. Most of them get used for 10+ years. I had a nice pair of good leather flats that were $105 new. I wore them for 12 years. I resoled them 5 times, and re heeled them another 3 or so on top of that. I probably spent another $100 over the years, spiffing them up. But, $200 over 10 years, with no problems caused by ill fitting shoes, breaks down to $20 a year - and I have NEVER had a $20 pair of shoes that fit me or would last more than a few months. There are quite a few things that are expensive up front, but will pay for themselves many times over in length of use time.

Doc Marten's boots. I used to LIVE in those things, and never managed to wear a pair out. At worst, a pair might be downgraded to use for painting & such where I don't want to wear shoes that I care about getting paint-splattered.

Careful with the new styles of Doc boots. My friend bought some black and white ones and the white flaked off almost instantly. Apparently the white had been painted on and not dyed and could not handle the natural creasing from walking. I bought a high heeled b & w womens version of the same thing and thankfully i got to treat them before any paint flecked off but they will need to be redone within a year or so. I also have a pair of bloodred traditional Doc which have no colour problems 5 years down the track. There is a problem with their white stuff though and it's not only Doc shoes with this problem. Still very hardy and comfortable boots but I have also noticed their soles are made of much softer rubber now then the ones from 10-15 years ago. I have more wear on my occasional wearing on my 2 year old red boots than my 20+ 4th hand black boots which have hardly any wear on the soles at all.

I lived in Docs but they stopped making them the way they used to. The quality is just not there anymore.

Logged

“For too long, we've assumed that there is a single template for human nature, which is why we diagnose most deviations as disorders. But the reality is that there are many different kinds of minds. And that's a very good thing.” - Jonah Lehrer

I have to wear khaki's to work. Without fail after about 6 months, I develop a tear in the crotch area of my pants. But instead of buying new ones, I take this one pair of old ones that I have, cut a patch, and hot glue it to the pants over the tear. Then I sew it later. I have two pairs of khakis that have 3 patches or more...the only reason I'll get a new pair is if I actually out grow the old ones.

BUT I think that some of DH's family is worse.

MIL in particular is obsessed with plastic take away cups. Not the thick, reasonably you could use this a few times kind, but the cheap clear plastic ones and even the paper ones. Woe on the person who tries to throw away a solo cup.

I have to wear khaki's to work. Without fail after about 6 months, I develop a tear in the crotch area of my pants. But instead of buying new ones, I take this one pair of old ones that I have, cut a patch, and hot glue it to the pants over the tear. Then I sew it later. I have two pairs of khakis that have 3 patches or more...the only reason I'll get a new pair is if I actually out grow the old ones.

You should try putting up a patch before you get a hole, maybe some fusible fabric? That way it will last longer.I wouldn't say it's being a cheapstake, just like mending socks, sometimes clothes have a lot more life in them if you just patch a small hole or two.

I have to wear khaki's to work. Without fail after about 6 months, I develop a tear in the crotch area of my pants. But instead of buying new ones, I take this one pair of old ones that I have, cut a patch, and hot glue it to the pants over the tear. Then I sew it later. I have two pairs of khakis that have 3 patches or more...the only reason I'll get a new pair is if I actually out grow the old ones.

You should try putting up a patch before you get a hole, maybe some fusible fabric? That way it will last longer.I wouldn't say it's being a cheapstake, just like mending socks, sometimes clothes have a lot more life in them if you just patch a small hole or two.

This is what I've learned to do with jeans. I have "thunder thighs" that rub against the seams on the inside leg and they wear harder than the rest of the jeans. I have some old jeans that I have cut into strips that I use fusable webbing to patch in and then sew in so that the inside legs are re-enforced for hard wear. For some reason I do not have this same issue with any other pants, just jeans.

This is what I've learned to do with jeans. I have "thunder thighs" that rub against the seams on the inside leg and they wear harder than the rest of the jeans. I have some old jeans that I have cut into strips that I use fusable webbing to patch in and then sew in so that the inside legs are re-enforced for hard wear. For some reason I do not have this same issue with any other pants, just jeans.

As a lifelong fat person, I have become quite the expert at patching the inner thighs of pants. Nearly every pair of my pants has patches there, but since I made the pants, the patches are out of the exact same material. As for jeans.....I've patched jeans for friends, but I don't wear them.